In recent years, as in the expression “the Internet of Things (IoT)”, a world in which each of various “objects” such as vehicles and consumer electronics is connected to a network and exchanges information with other objects and controls the other objects through the network is developing.
A technique that attracts attention and is used for the IoT is a machine-to-machine (M2M) technique. The M2M technique is a technique for enabling not only information devices such as personal computers (PCs) but also “objects” (or “machines”) such as vehicles, consumer electronics, and sensors to be autonomously connected to the network, communicate with each other, exchange information with each other without a person, and automatically control the other devices and the other objects.
The widespread use of the M2M technique is being accelerated since communication devices have been downsized and installed in various “objects” and “machines” (also referred to as “devices”), and radio communication areas have been increased in size because of the development of network infrastructures.
Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-106847 and International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2009/008043.
The M2M technique has started to be widely used in various fields. For example, M2M services such as a service of remotely monitoring vending machines and a service of remotely monitoring elevators are known. In addition, for example, the following service has started to be widely used: a service of providing, in real time, information such as traffic congestion information and information of available spaces of parking lots through communication devices installed in mobile objects such as vehicles.
Communication methods used for the M2M technique are mainly classified into two. One is a method using radio communication such as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) (registered trademark), ZigBee (registered trademark), and the like. Since WiFi, ZigBee, and the like are low-power radio communication, a license defined in the Japanese Radio Act does not have to be obtained and a network may be easily built.
The other is a method using networks provided by communication carriers. The networks provided by communication carriers have wide communication coverage areas regardless of whether the areas are indoor or outdoor places, and functions such as security for communication are more reliable than WiFi, ZigBee, and the like.
Thus, for example, it is considered that the networks provided by communication carriers are used for M2M communication to be performed for vending machines located in a wide region or vehicles that are able to move in a wide region or used for M2M communication that is performed for security monitoring or the like and for which high reliability is required.
However, if the number of communication devices (hereinafter also referred to as “M2M devices”) that perform M2M communication increases, a load of the network increases. For example, it is considered that the amount of radio resources to be assigned to the M2M communication increases or loads for control, process, or the like in response to a movement of an M2M device increase.